Bejing and Xian

Good morning from Oz..My friend and I are taking my 15 year old niece to Beijing and Xian end of March for 10days..where should we spend most of the time, we will be flying into Beijing and would like to travel on the train (soft sleeper) to Xian..I am also looking for the safest accommodation at a reasonable cost for 3 females and would be grateful for any recommendation or advice for our trip...thanks everyone..Elly in Oz ..

I am reading up for my trip there too, in August. Thought why not share bits of info I know....

The trains depart from Beijing West Train Station (not the Beijing Main Station). There are 4 overnight trains departing Beijing with the Z19 being the last to leave at 20:28hrs. The train tickets can only be bought from city you are departing from. No return tickets!

As for hotels, it's personal preference. I prefer those near the main sights (eg: Forbidden City). In Xian, those hotels near the Bell Tower have easy public transportation to the Terracotta Warriors sites.

Thus far that I have read, Beijing and Xian are considered safe places to visit.

I have been doing some research on travelling by train in China. As mentioned earlier the Z ...train are the new tourist train in chine. You can get a look at them on the net. They look like the european train and even better than some I know.After reading a mountain of books, all of them say the same. Be cautious however it´s pretty safe for a single woman to travel in China as the respect of the female is part of the confusianism.10 days to do Xian and beijing seem a lot to me. Why not pick another destination to added up to your trip, and see a bit more of China.

Hi,for the Beijing,you can book the hotel near the Wangfujing street,lies the centre of downtown,its about 10mins to the Forbidden City by walk.for you stay in Beijing,you should visit Summper Palace,GreatWall,Beijing Zoo for panda,Forbidden City,Temple of Heaven,Houhai area.if you need the english tour guide,i suggest Meteor(lnghulyn at 126 dot com) tou you,he is kindly,helpful i met last year.he also has the tour guide certificate and can go any sights without ticket fee except Forbidden City.you can conntact him.

I would take three or four days in Beijing if i were you to explore the great wall, forbidden city, summer palace, tian'anamen square etc, but wouldnt spend any longer than two days in xi'an. There really isnt a lot to see in the city itself, just a day trip to the terracotta warriors.